A group of students have launched an encampment at the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) calling on the institution to cut financial ties with Israel, despite the school warning that such action would not be tolerated.
Demonstrators have been holding a sit-in in front of uOttawa’s Tabaret Hall since Monday. Social media posts by organizers Integrity Not Spite Against Falastin (INSAF) and the Palestinian Students Association show about a dozen tents being pitched along with tarps, sleeping bags and blankets.
Pro-Palestinian supporters take part in a sit-in at the University of Ottawa, in Ottawa on Monday, April 29, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Patrick Doyle
As the death toll in the Gaza Strip continues to rise, students are calling on the institution to disclose its investments and divest entirely from organizations that fund Israeli defence and security operations.
Organizers say they escalated the demonstration from a sit-in to an encampment due to a lack of response from the university.
“We have actually been waiting for a response from the administration for a few days now and we haven’t heard anything to those demands,” said INSAF president Sumayya Kheireddine on CTV Morning Live on Wednesday.
“We’re asking for full disclosure of the investment lists and as well as divesting from Zionist organizations, so the ones that are enabling the genocide of the Palestinian people actively right now.”
In a statement over the weekend, uOttawa said encampments and occupations would “not be tolerated” but did not provide further details on their response if the demonstration escalates.
“As always, our institution supports and protects the right to peaceful protest as a cornerstone of both our university mission and our democratic life,” uOttawa said, in part.
“Nevertheless, everyone in our university community has the right to feel safe and respected. We have forcefully and repeatedly affirmed that no incitement to violence or incidents of harassment or hate, including Islamophobia and Antisemitism, will be tolerated on our campuses.”
The encampment in Ottawa is one of a wave of similar protests across university campuses in the United States denouncing Israel’s offensive in Gaza that followed the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. The Israeli offensive has led to more than 34,000 Palestinian deaths, according to the local health ministry.
Students set up an encampment at the University of Ottawa to demand the university divest from financial ties to Israel on May 1, 2024. (James Fish/CTV News Ottawa)
Kheireddine says they intend to stay until their demands are met.
“Though I’ve heard nothing from the university so far, I do have hope that they won’t be one to escalate it negatively towards us,” Kheireddine said.
“They emphasize the right to protest and the right to free speech and that’s what we’re doing today.”
With files from CTV Morning Live Ottawa